Indonesia’s Aug cement consumption up 11.4 per cent YoY
Indonesia’s cement consumption rose 11.4 per cent to 3.4Mt last month, data from the country’s cement association showed on Friday.
August’s figure took total year-to-date sales to 22.1Mt, up 8.3 percent from the year-ago period.
Domestic sales of Semen Gresik Tbk , Indonesia’s largest cement maker, rose 3.8 per cent last month to 1.48Mt from a year ago.
State-run Semen Gresik, PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk and PT Holcim Indonesia Tbk are the top three producers in the country.
Gresik controls nearly half the Indonesian cement market. It accounted for 14.34Mt of total industry sales of 32.1Mt last year.
Gresik estimates the country’s domestic cement consumption will rise 6-7 per cent in 2008, higher than the Indonesian Cement Association’s five per cent forecast, as the sector gradually recovers from a slowdown last year.
Indonesian cement demand has picked up in recent months after a slowdown last year amid signs that the residential property sector will drive growth rather than infrastructure projects.
A sharp rise in interest rates at the end of 2005, after the government raised domestic fuel prices in October that year, put a brake on Southeast Asia’s largest economy and slowed down the construction sector.
Published under Cement News
